Description

Departments

 

    4   Fish Alaska Online

    6   Alaska Traveler

    8   Creel

   10  Gear Bag

   12  Fishing for a Compliment

   14  Salmon Sense

   18  Fly

   20  Boats

   30  Saltwater

   32  Flyfishing

   36  Conservation

   79  Ad Index

   80  Recipe

   82  Final Drift

 

On The Cover

Brad’s Killer Fishing Gear 360 Evolution flasher has a built-in break-away and is adjustable to change its speed of rotation. The snubber may help keep fish buttoned, too. © George  Krumm

 

 

42

Advanced Downrigger Techniques by Josh Leach

Lots of Alaska anglers use downriggers to target salmon in saltwater, and in freshwater for species like lake trout. Josh Leach fishes out of Larsen Bay in Kodiak all summer and has refined his downrigger fishing to minimize tangles and frustration, prevent downtime, and increase his clients’ hook-to-land ratio. Attention to detail is a must if you decide to replicate his very successful system.

 

50

360 Flasher Rigging—Breaking Away From Tradition by George Krumm

Every avid salmon angler has heard the term “360 flasher.” The 360-flasher craze (AKA Pro-Trollin’) has taken over much of the West Coast salmon angling scene. The only bad thing about 360 flashers is the atrocious hook-to-land ratio. George Krumm has been fishing 360s since 2015 and has experimented with everything from hook styles, to hook configurations, to break-away mechanisms to improve the hook-to-land ratio.

 

 

60

Soft Beads for Coho by Scott Haugen

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, 6- and 8 mm hard beads revolutionized trout and char fishing in Alaska streams. Roughly 30 years later, Soft Beads are doing the same in the steelhead and salmon rivers of the West Coast, including Alaska. Scott Haugen has been using Soft Beads since they became available five years ago. In this story, he expounds upon the use of Soft Beads specifically for coho in rivers.

 

 

70

Juneau Coho by Conor Sullivan

Thanks to consistently high plants of hatchery coho, Juneau boasts predictably good fishing along its road system. A boat isn’t necessary for success, and both fly and gear anglers can get in on the action starting in August and lasting through September. Thanks to a change in the brood stock used in hatchery production, the fish seem to be a little bigger than in years past, too.